Amitabh Bachchan, whose name was linked to shipping companies in tax havens in the Panama paper leaks, on Tuesday denied any connection with the entities and said his name may have been “misused”. He said all his overseas remittances were legal and after paying Indian taxes.
Meanwhile, the Iceland PM has resigned, becoming the first victim of the scandal. Reserve Bank of India is part of a multi-agency investigative team that is probing the offshore accounts opened by Indians as revealed in the Panama Papers.
“We are part of the investigative team that is going to look into this matter. It is important to note that there are legitimate reasons to have accounts outside. The Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) allows you to take money outside. We have to see what is legitimate and what is not legitimate,” said Rajan, interacting with the media during his first monetary policy announcement for FY17.
Deputy governor H R Khan said that the multiple agencies involved were the Central Bureau of Investigation, Financial Intelligence Unit, the Enforcement Directorate and the Reserve Bank of India. He said besides these the Special Investigative Team set up by the Supreme Court in 2011 to bring back unaccounted money from overseas was also involved.
Khan said that there were several issues involved here as there were several legitimate reasons for which Indians are allowed to send money outside. The FIU was set up by the government in 2004 as the central national agency for receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.